The U.K. government said it will allow equipment from Huawei on “non-core” parts of the country’s communications infrastructure but will bar it from “sensitive locations” like military bases. The UK’s National Security Council didn’t mention Huawei by name in its Tuesday announcement, instead saying it’s allowing a “high risk vendor” into some parts of the country’s infrastructure because the government believes the risks the company poses can be “safely managed.” The government also said it will cap Huawei’s share of the U.K. market at 35 percent. Huawei “is reassured by the UK government’s confirmation that we can continue working with our customers to keep the 5G roll-out on track," said Vice President Victor Zhang in a statement. "This evidence-based decision will result in a more advanced, more secure and more cost-effective telecoms infrastructure that is fit for the future." Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke with President Donald Trump after the announcement about “working together to ensure the security of our telecommunications networks,” a White House spokesperson said. The U.K.’s decision drew the ire of many U.S. lawmakers, some of whom recently filed legislation to bar the U.S. from sharing intelligence “with any country that permits operation within its national borders” of Huawei-produced 5G equipment (see 2001080002). “Allowing Huawei to build the UK’s 5G networks today is like allowing the KGB to build its telephone network during the Cold War,” tweeted Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. “The short-term savings aren’t worth the long-term costs," Cotton said. He and two other Senate Republicans -- John Cornyn of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida -- wrote Johnson Monday urging the country to fully ban Huawei from that country’s infrastructure. “Seeking to limit Huawei to ‘non-core’ infrastructure, as today’s decision attempts, will not succeed in limiting Huawei’s ability to conduct espionage, interfere with critical infrastructure or mobilization, or even access more sensitive nodes in the telecom network,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “America has never been weaker” and has “never had less influence," tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. "Not even our closest ally Britain, with a Trump soulmate in Downing Street, listens to us anymore." Johnson “has chosen the surveillance state over the special relationship” between the UK and U.S., tweeted House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. It’s “tragic to see our closest ally, a nation [former President] Ronald Reagan once called “incandescent with courage,” turn away from our alliance and the cause of freedom.”

LightShed’s Walter Piecyk told investors Verizon faces problems on spectrum. “Verizon’s spectrum position has been a nagging concern for investors and it’s likely to persist in 2020,” he said Monday: “Verizon’s current network strategy leans heavily on small cell densification and [millimeter-wave] spectrum. However, the early performance of mmWave spectrum has been worse than promised and the pace of small cell deployments is slower than expected.” The carrier continues to convert its CDMA spectrum to LTE, not 5G, “to maintain and improve its network performance,” he said. Verizon didn’t comment.

NTIA released a report Monday calling for further study but saying federal agencies may be able to share the 3450-3550 MHz band, which is directly below the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service spectrum (see 2001270025). DOD assisted in preparing the report. Federal operations in the band “include shipborne, airborne, and land-based systems -- primarily radars,” blogged Charles Cooper, associate administrator of the NTIA Office of Spectrum Management: “Our report points to a clear possibility for real time spectrum sharing that would protect these critical missions, while providing attractive opportunities for commercial business.” The next step is studying how often each of the federal systems is used, and then developing “mechanisms for reliably informing commercial operations when federal systems are operating nearby,” Cooper said: "This 100 MHz of spectrum should be well suited for realizing 5G’s promise of higher throughput and lower latency operations." The report says the band gets significant federal use, with shipborne radars operating at more than 20 ports along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. Some airborne systems operate nationwide; other systems are limited, the report said: “The ground-based radars operate at over one hundred locations, including many near high-population areas. In addition, DOD continues to deploy systems at additional locations and to develop new systems for operation in the band.” Some aspects “of the systems are classified, which reduced the ability for the report to be as transparent regarding the analysis as otherwise possible,” the document says. Frequency- or geographic-based sharing approaches “would result in significant restrictions on commercial services, in terms of emitter power limits and exclusion zones, making sufficient access for viable commercial applications unlikely,” the report found: “A dynamic, time-based sharing mechanism could present a potentially attractive approach to both protecting federal systems and providing viable commercial operations. Commercial operations would be contingent on spectrum availability, which will depend on the frequency, time, and location of federal system operations.” It’s no surprise NTIA found “extensive” military use of the band requiring protection, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “The good news is that the report’s technical findings suggest the spectrum could be shared nationwide by low-power, indoor operations, as well as outdoors away from the coasts,” he told us: “It appears that shared use could be supported by expanding on the database coordination approach that manages sharing with the Navy in the adjacent band under the new CBRS framework that became fully open for effectively unlicensed use today. Adding this band to CBRS looks like it will be the fastest and most efficient way to put it to use for 5G-quality connectivity.”

Dish Network plans to release a request for proposals for telecom transport to facilitate fiber connectivity to cell towers and data centers for its planned 5G network, the company said Thursday. "We see an opportunity to learn from nontraditional partners," said Executive Vice President-Wireless Operations Jeff McSchooler, "like utilities and municipalities that may be deploying fiber in their communities. We are exploring varying transport infrastructures to support our aggressive buildout." Vendors can email 5GtransportRFP@dish.com by Jan. 30 to request the RFP. Dish says it's committed to making its stand-alone 5G network available to 70 percent of the U.S. population by June 2023. The fate of T-Mobile's buying Sprint, approved by FCC and DOJ but held up by states' litigation, is expected to determine whether and when Dish's 5G network moves forward (see 2001150077). Company officials made a pitch to fiber providers at the fall Incompas Show (see 1911050016).

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., filed House companion legislation Tuesday to a bill (S-3153) from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., targeting Huawei (see 2001080002). The bill would bar the U.S. from sharing intelligence “with any country that permits operation within its national borders” of Huawei-produced 5G equipment. “Huawei is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party to spy on and infiltrate other nations,” Banks said. “Our allies must choose: Adopt Huawei and lose access to U.S. intelligence, or remain our trusted partner.” The U.S. is trying to convince the U.K. government not to allow Huawei equipment on the country’s 5G infrastructure. House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a co-sponsor of Banks’ bill, said that “allowing Huawei into the U.K.’s 5G networks would pose a national security threat that could not be mitigated or contained. Such a decision would necessarily have negative consequences for the U.S./U.K. relationship in many areas, including trade and intelligence cooperation.”

Carriers worldwide created a forum to “accelerate the delivery of 5G and mobile-edge computing-enabled solutions,” Verizon said Wednesday: “The 5G Future Forum will collaborate to develop interoperable 5G specifications across key geographic regions, including the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe.” Founders are America Movil, KT, Rogers, Telstra, Verizon and Vodafone.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., led filing Tuesday of the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act. They want to encourage investment in U.S. 5G developments and incentivize alternatives to telecom equipment manufactured by Huawei and ZTE. The bill would require the FCC direct at least $750 million, or up to 5 percent in annual spectrum auction proceeds, to create an NTIA-managed open radio access network R&D fund to spur movement to open-architecture, software-based wireless technologies. The measure would also create a $500 million multilateral telecommunications security fund to accelerate global adoption of trusted and secure telecom equipment. It would aim to increase U.S. participation in international standards-setting bodies and require the FCC report to Congress on recommendations. “Every month that the U.S. does nothing, Huawei stands poised to become the cheapest, fastest, most ubiquitous global provider of 5G, while U.S. and Western companies and workers lose out on market share and jobs,” Warner said in a statement. Four senators signed as original co-sponsors: Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Lawmakers are again talking about advancing legislation to help fund U.S. communications providers removing Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 2001080002).

With CES next week, CTA urged the FCC Thursday to open the 6 GHz band for sharing with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed devices. Amid moving to 5G, "demand for connected devices, higher-speed applications, and more data-intensive services" continues growing, CTA said in docket 18-295. “Consumers increasingly rely on devices that run on unlicensed spectrum.” Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to circulate a 6 GHz item, most likely for the March commissioners’ meeting (see 1912310039).

FCC national security supply chain rules barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from networks funded by the USF take effect Friday, with Federal Register publication. Commissioners approved the order 5-0 at their November meeting (see 1911220033). Comments on the initial designations of Huawei and ZTE as covered companies are due Feb. 3 in docket 19-352. A Further NPRM seeks comment on additional actions. “The Commission proposes to require [eligible telecommunications carriers] receiving USF support to remove and replace covered equipment and services from their network operations,” the FNPRM says: “To mitigate the impact on affected entities, and in particular small, rural entities, the Commission proposes to establish a reimbursement program to offset reasonable transition costs. The Commission proposes to make the requirement to remove covered equipment and services by ETCs contingent on the availability of a funded reimbursement program.” Comments are due Feb. 3, replies March 3. Huawei and ZTE didn't comment Thursday.

Pivotal Commware got a partial for waiver of FCC industrial signal booster labeling requirements for its Echo 5G signal booster, despite opposition by AT&T and T-Mobile and other booster makers (see 1910080012). The Wireless Bureau noted the opposition in a Thursday order in docket 19-272. “We find that a limited waiver permitting the following alternate label is warranted,” the bureau said: “WARNING. This is not a CONSUMER device. This device may not be sold at retail. You MUST have an FCC LICENSE or express consent of an FCC Licensee (or express consent of your service provider) to operate this device. Antennas must be installed at least 20 cm (8 inches) from any person. Unauthorized use may result in significant forfeiture penalties, including penalties in excess of $100,000 for each continuing violation.” The bureau also imposed various conditions, including a requirement the device be obtained “exclusively from the FCC licensee that is the user’s service provider.”